Brian Davis is not the most famous golfer in the world today. In fact, he probably doesn't even rank in the top 100 golfers. However, in my book he is number one!
Davis was about to win the Verizon Heritage as he was competing against Jim Furyk in a playoff. He was about to win when something happened of which to the average spectator would have been a minor infraction. This infraction cost him his first-ever PGA Tour win. What was the infraction?
According to PGA Tour Rules, hitting any material around your ball during your backswing constitutes a violation of the rule against moving loose impediments, and is an immediate two-stroke penalty. And in a playoff, that means, in effect, game over. The thing about Brian Davis is that he called the penalty shot himself! That's right: He called it on himself!
"It was one of those things I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye," Davis said. "And I thought we'd check on TV, and indeed there was movement." As soon as he made the shot, he called a rules official to review the shot by television. After review, the rules official called the penalty shot against Davis. The only way that he even saw the movement was by watching this shot in slow motion.
Davis conceded the victory to Furyk. Jim Furyk was stunned; the crowds were stunned; the rules official was stunned. Davis still won second place (with winnings in the amount of $615,000). Furyk took home $1.03 million for the win.
So why would I tell you this story? Because Brian Davis showed integrity. This trait of integrity is something that is missing in our society, and apparently it has been missing since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.
Read what King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 11:3, "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the perversity of the treacherous destroys them." I say "thank you" to Brian Davis. With the Tiger Woods fiasco - another PGA Tour winner showing a lack of integrity - it is great to see this happen.
